


between heartbeats

by koalakiers



Category: Flashpoint (TV)
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-19
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:49:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25384834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalakiers/pseuds/koalakiers
Summary: a rewrite of what happens in season 2 episode 4 'between heartbeats' after jules is shot.sam wants nothing more than to rush to the hospital with jules, which doesn't go unnoticed by greg who is now suspecting the two are in a secret relationship.
Relationships: Sam Braddock/Jules Callaghan
Kudos: 2





	between heartbeats

**Author's Note:**

> tw // mentions of blood, guns, hospitals

jules held tightly onto the back of sam’s vest with one hand while the other held her gun, aimed and ready at the suspect lying on the roof in front of them. they had stood in this exact position while training dozens of times but jules was still nervous. she took a deep breath to calm her nerves as as she patted the back of sam’s vest, signaling for him to take a step forward while she stood back and aimed her gun properly at the subject. she peeked around his shoulder, making sure they were both on the same page before she spoke into the coms.  
“he’s not moving.” she informed the team through the coms.  
“low and slow.” she heard ed’s voice in her ear and she nodded her head even though he couldn’t see her. “copy” 

greg, wordy, and lou all entered the elevator to head up to the roof to meet sam and jules. “he shot himself? any signs of trauma?”  
sam peeked around his shield at the suspect, “it’s hard to tell.”  
“i think we got him.” 

she nodded at sam, giving him the go ahead to approach the subject. he stayed ahead of her, blocking them both with the shield until they got closer. once they were at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the platform where the subject was laying, jules stopped and let sam go ahead of her.  
“police! drop your weapon! hands in the air or we will shoot!”  
“show me your hands! show me your hands!” they both yelled, their voices overlapping each other, but the subject remained unmoving. 

sam bent down and ripped the camouflage covering off, not prepared for what was underneath.  
“it’s a decoy.” he called out to the team through the coms as he raised his shield in front of him.  
“where is he?” jules questioned as sam’s words finally set in. they both began looking around as ed’s voice came booming through the coms, “it’s a decoy? fall back! fall back now! take cover!” 

before either of them could react, a single shot came out of nowhere. sam felt like everything was moving in slow motion as he turned to walk down the stairs. he heard the bang from the gun but he couldn’t move fast enough. jules arms went flying in the air, the impact throwing her off balance. a white hot pain spread throughout her side and she found herself gasping for her breath before she even hit the ground. 

“officer down! officer down! medic come now! jules has been hit!” sam yelled as he ran towards her. though he was only a few steps away, he felt like he was running forever, like time was slipping through his grasp and no matter how fast he moved, it still wasn’t fast enough.  
spike took a deep breath, his heart in his throat, hating that he was safe in the truck and one of his best friends was caught in the crosshairs, “officer down! officer down! We need ems! bay and queen! SRU officer down!”

sam dropped to his knees beside jules, holding the shield up covering the both of them as he pressed his hand against jules side. “stay with me jules. stay with me. stay with me.” he kept repeating over and over, practically a whisper as she gasped for breath. sam could already feel the tears swelling up and he fought hard to control them, to be strong for her. suddenly, a bullet hit his shield, then another, then one missed and hit the wall near them, pieces of the concrete breaking off and flying around them. shot after shot came their way and he crouched down even further, using both the shield and his body to cover jules. “we’re under fire! get up here now! somebody get an angle on this guy!” his voice came out strong, angry, despite the fact that he felt weak as he looked at jules. as the shots continued, he looked behind him and saw the general direction they were coming from. “shots are coming from city hall!”

ed ran his hands over his face. “boss this is about me, i come out, draw his fire, you get her out of the way.”  
“negative. negative. We do it as a team.” greg’s voice was stern as he, wordy, and lou rushed out of the elevator and down the corridor leading to the door with access to the roof.  
ed sighed but obeyed the boss’s orders anyways. “copy. greg, get her out of there. spike you and me, west tower, city hall.”  
Upon hearing his command, spike rushed out of the truck and he and ed immediately headed to find the suspect. everyone was on edge, not wasting any time. targeting their team was one thing, but actually hitting one of their own was crossing a line they wouldn’t let him come back from. 

the rest of the team finally made it to the door and greg turned to face them. “low and tight, low and tight. lou you cover.”  
lou nodded his head and the three of them rushed out the door, greg and wordy holding their shields up as lou held his gun ready. they reached sam and jules, covering them with their shields. Wordy handed his shield to lou and helped sam pick up jules to keep her steady as they moved to the door, still being shot at.  
“we’ve got you jules, we’re getting you out.” greg spoke softly as he looked down at her. 

once they finally reached the door sam couldn’t take it anymore. he felt like they were loosing her and they weren’t moving fast enough. he motioned for wordy to let go and took jules fulling into his arms, carrying her bridal style as he rushed down the hallway and towards the service elevator. “stay with jules. stay with me.” he whispered as he looked down at her. she had tears slowly rolling down her cheeks, like she wasn’t in control of them and her breath was still coming out ragged and uneven. more than anything, he wanted to bend down, kiss her, and whisper how much he loved her, scared that if he didn’t do it now he may never be able to. but he knew he couldn’t. he knew that the rest of the team was close behind and even if they weren’t and couldn’t see him, the coms would pick up anything he said to her.  
When the elevator finally made it downstairs, he gently set her down on the gurney. he walked along side them as they headed for the ambulance, his hand gently holding her own. a few steps from the ambulance, the paramedic gently placed his hand against sam’s chest, telling him to stay back and that they’ve got her. sam saw his mouth moving but the words barely registered, everyone was talking around him but all he heard was an incessant ringing sound. he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t focus, couldn’t think. he felt numb as he stood back, watching them load jules in the ambulance. he desperately wanted to follow after her but he knew he couldn’t and that shattered his heart even further. 

greg watched the two of them, he saw the way sam held onto her hand, how broken he looked as he watched the ambulance drive away, and deep down he knew why. he wanted to deny it. he wanted to believe that two of his best officers wouldn’t be so carelessly breaking the rules. but he could tell that there was something going on between them and he was left wondering how long they’d be sneaking around, how serious it was, how it would affect the team.  
“sam we need to find a sierra shot.” Wordy’s voice finally broke sam out of his trance. he shook his head, snapping back into ‘sru mode’ quickly. he ran a few steps, grabbing his gun from wordy and rushing to find a good vantage point.

as he jogged further he looked down at his hand, examining the one that wasn’t holding his gun, flipping it over, clenching and unclenching it into a fist. it was covered in jules’ blood, sinking into his skin and staining it a light red. he closed his eyes tightly for a second, taking a deep breath and trying to get the image of her laying on that rooftop out of his head. he hastily wiped his hand against his shirt, needing to get the blood off, needing to clear his head, needing to think about anything else. 

he finally made it to a wall and he positioned his gun on top of it as he looked up into the building ahead of him. “no joy. i don’t have a good enough visual!” he called into the coms as the suspect took ahold of ed in the mechanical room thousands of feet above him.  
a few minutes later he finally got visual. it wasn’t very clear but it was good enough for him to take the shot. he held his breath as he pulled the trigger, then didn’t let it out until he finally heard ed’s voice through the com in his ear, “suspect down.” 

sam finally let out a breath. relief rushed over him immediately. he didn’t want to kill, he’d rather talk the suspect down, but a line was crossed today. he hurt a member of their team. he hurt jules. and sam couldn’t let that go. he took a few minutes to compose himself before jogging over to reach the rest of the team near the trucks. he saw the inspector first and though he knew protocol called for him going in for questioning first, he still brushed past the inspector and headed straight for greg. 

“where is she?”  
greg places his hand on sam’s shoulder to calm him down, “st. simon’s we’re on our way.” he said, gesturing to everyone getting in the trucks behind them.  
“i want to go with you.”  
“sam.” greg’s voice was stern and sam threw his hands up in frustration.  
“boss, paperwork can wait!”  
greg shook his head and patted his shoulder. “sam... get there when you can okay? we’ll all be there. we’re not going anywhere.”  
sam sighed and brushed past him, following the inspector to the squad car.  
“braddock!” ed called out and sam turned to face him, walking backwards towards the car. he couldn’t pause, couldn’t stop, couldn’t drag any of this out longer than necessary because he desperately needed to get to the hospital to see jules.  
a silent thank you passed between ed and sam and sam nodded his head, letting ed know he got the message and he was welcome. 

for the next hour sam went through the motions in a daze. from the ride back to the bunker in the squad car, to stripping out of his clothes to give to evidence, to the annoying round of questions. he knew it was protocol and that it was required but he still found himself pissed that he was forced into being questioned when he needed to be there for jules. still, he forced himself to not rush too much. he knew a level of (((((urgency)))) was expected but he couldn’t cross that line. he couldn’t make anyone, especially the inspector, question of there was more there than the normal familial bond between team mates. so he sat, and waited, and answered questions. when he was done he rushed to his car and to the hospital, narrowly avoiding running stop signs and red lights on the way. 

when he finally made it into the hospital he ran to the front desk. after flashing his badge, he was given a room number and directed down a long hallway. he saw his team standing at the end and he rushed towards them.  
he paused briefly outside her room, looking at greg. he wasn’t sure but he felt as though he needed his permission to enter. greg lightly nodded his head and sam rushed in.  
jules was sleeping, or heavily sedated, he wasn’t sure which. she has machines hooked up to her and sam felt like all the breath had been knocked out of him. she looked so small lying there. he always felt like jules was all powerful, badass beyond belief, stronger than you could ever imagine, but seeing her laying there, it struck him that although all those things were true, she was also human. lying there, she looked fragile and small and sam realized he had never seen her look that way before. 

he approached her cautiously, taking her hand into his own. he wanted to lean down and kiss it but once glance up to the window facing into the hallway and he saw the team watching him. he knew they all knew there was something going on, they all joked about it since the moment he met her. they saw how captivated he was by her even then. but suspecting was one thing, knowing for sure, that’s what could get them in trouble. so he squeezed her hand a little tighter as he sat in the chair beside her bed.  
“hey sweetheart. hey jules. i’m sorry. i’m so sorry jules. i should’ve been here sooner. i’m so sorry i didn’t protect you. i should’ve protected you.”  
a tear fell from his cheek and splashed against their hands but jules still didn’t move. sam squeezed his eyes shut and let his head fall against the bed. 

after a few minutes of near silence he felt jules stir and relief coursed through him when he thought she was waking up. then suddenly, all the machines around her started beeping and jules body began thrashing wildly causing him to jump to his feet.  
“jules? jules! help! what’s happening? jules!” he yelled as doctors and nurses rushed in. they gently pushed him out of the way and he barely registered that a nurse was telling him they needed to bring her back into surgery.  
“she’s crashing people we have to move!” one doctor’s voice rang out above the rest as they began to wheel her out of the room. sam rushed behind them, tears running down his cheeks, as ed and greg both struggled to hold him back. “no! jules! jules please!” 

“sam! sam. it’s going to be okay. they’ve got her. you have to let them do their job.” ed’s voice was firm yet soothing, trying to get sam to listen and calm him down at the same time.  
“this can’t be happening. i need her to be okay.”  
“i know sam. i know. we all want her to be okay.” this time it was greg standing in front of him.  
“no it’s more than that.” sam said firmly, then took a step back, hanging his head in defeat as greg raised his brows in question. “i’m sorry boss but i know that you know it’s more than just that.” 

he looked up at greg carefully, the true meaning behind his words passing silently between them. just like that, all of greg’s suspicions were confirmed. all the times he’d seen jules and sam quietly whispering, love struck smiles on their faces; all the times they trained together, just the two of them; all the times they easily agreed to be paired together; the pain in sam’s voice when he told them jules was shot; the way he protected her; the way he held onto her as the paramedics took her from him; the way he stared at the ambulance as it drove away; the way he practically begged to go to the hospital instead of questioning; the way he ran down the hall and into her room; the way he yelled moments ago as she began crashing. it all became very clear in only a moment. 

frustrated by the days events, by jules being rushed back into surgery, by the look on greg’s face, sam turned quickly, his fist hitting the wall beside him. it did nothing to ease his frustration though and wordy quickly grabbed his arm and pulled him away. they all glanced between the dent in the sheetrock and sam as wordy gently shoved on his shoulder. “take a walk sam.”  
“i don’t need to take a walk! i’m fine!” he shrugged wordy off and ed rushed in between the two. he pointed a hand over sam’s shoulder, his voice stern, “take a walk! clear your mind and don’t come back until you’ve got it under control!”  
that was enough to get sam to comply and he turned with a scoff and began to wander down the hallway. 

——

nearly an hour later, sam wandered back to the team who are now sitting in the waiting room. they all stood to greet him, each of them bringing him in for a hug.  
“i’m sorry for snapping at you.”  
“don’t worry about it man. we’re all on edge.” wordy assured him as he patted his hand on his shoulder.  
sam turned to greg next and the team took it as their sign to give them privacy. they all turned their backs to the pair, striking up a conversation and giving them the privacy they needed.  
“i’m sorry boss... about me and jules. i’m sorry you had to find out this way and i’m sorry we’ve been keeping it from you.” he hung his head in defeat and greg brought him in for a hug, patting his back and squeezing a little tighter.  
“we’ll talk about it later okay?”  
sam nodded his head and mustered up a grateful half-smile before he sank into one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. 

the team all chatted aimlessly with each other, talking about anything and everything to distract themselves as they waited for jules to get out of surgery. sam tried to join the conversation at first but he eventually gave up. he couldn’t focus on anything other than jules and he felt that it was foolish of him to even try. 

twenty minutes later the doctor finally came out, letting them know that jules began crashing because of the stress her body went through after getting shot. they removed the bullet during the first surgery but when she began to wake up earlier, sooner than her body was ready for, her movement caused one of the sutures to reopen. she told them it wasn’t entirely uncommon but regardless, they were able to easily fix it once they got her stabilized during the second surgery. she told the team that they were welcome to go see her once she was in her room but she would be heavily sedated until tomorrow in order to let her body rest. greg took charge, thanking the doctor sincerely as everyone turned to wander back towards jules’ room. when they finally made it there, sam looked through the window into her room and suddenly it all came crashing down at once. jules was okay. she fought like hell and she was going to make it. he felt his knees give out as he fell to the floor and spike was the first to rush towards him. “i’m okay. sorry. i just...”  
“i know buddy. take your time.”  
sam gave him a grateful smile and turned around so he could lean his back against the wall and pull his knees to his chest. for the first time since he heard the gunshots on the roof that morning, he felt like he could finally breathe, like a weight had been lifted.  
the team took turns going in to see jules, though she wasn’t awake, they each took comfort in taking a moment to hold her hand and talk to her. finally, it was only sam, ed, and greg left.  
sam gave a week smile to each of the other men before walking into the room and closing the door softly behind him. 

“hey pretty girl. you really scared me there.” he let out a light laugh as he sat down beside her. “you’re not allowed to do that ever again, okay? because seeing you like that... god jules it nearly broke me.” he lifted her hand, kissing the back of her knuckles lightly before rubbing his thumb over them. “i know you won’t be awake until tomorrow and you probably can’t hear me but i love you jules. i love you so damn much. and i’ve wanted to tell you for so long, hell i think i knew i loved you the second you drew your gun on me when i first met you, but i was scared to tell you. then i saw you get shot today and i just kept thinking about how you could die without ever knowing i loved you and that’s not fair. so i do jules, i love you.” 

outside the room, ed and greg leaned against the wall, watching sam talk to jules. “come on man. go see your family.” he knew ed had planned a weekend trip with his wife and son but now their departure time had been pushed back several hours. ed has been looking forward to the time off with his family all week and greg knew that, which is why he was trying to push him to leave. ed shook his head in protest and pointed at sam and jules. “this is family greg. i need to be here for her too.” greg nodded his head in understanding but still pushed ed to leave anyways. “you’re only a couple hours away, and you heard the doctor, she’s going to be fine. i’ll call you if anything happens.” ed thought for a few moments before he reluctantly nodded and hugged greg before leaving.

once he was gone, greg knocked lightly on the door before walking into jules’ room. “i was thinking of staying here tonight if you want to go get some rest.”  
sam shook his head, “i can’t leave her.” greg nodded his head in understanding as sam continued, “but you’re welcome to stay too boss.”  
sam knew they both couldn’t leave her side, jules was like a little sister to greg, he needed to be there. and sam, well sam was in love with her. 

“look sam, i get it okay. i know why you want to stay,” greg sat his jacket down on the small couch and sam stood up to face him. he could sense that whatever greg was saying, it was serious. “you killed the suspect today sam.”  
“i had to boss. you know that. he had ed at gunpoint, we had no other options.” sam got defensive and greg raised his hands to calm him down.  
“i know sam, i know. but they still have to launch an investigation, prove that that’s really what happened. you know that, it happens every time. that means that you’re under a microscope right now sam. so you need to go home.”  
sam shook his head, his brows knit in frustration. “what are you trying to say? that i’m not allowed to stay with jules because of some bullshit investigation that has nothing to do with the two of us?”

“that’s exactly what i’m saying sam!” greg paused for a moment, taking a deep breath and speaking quieter when he continued. “it’s suspicious that the rest of the team went home and you stayed. i’m the sergeant, it makes sense that i’m here, but sam, you need to go home. don’t give them a reason to look further into this.”  
sam scoffed and looked over at jules, thinking over what greg had said. he expected greg to be pissed at them for hiding their relationship, and he got the sense that he was, but in that moment it seemed as though greg was protecting both of them.  
“okay boss.” sam said solemnly, bending down to kiss jules’ forehead before heading towards the door. “i’m coming back first thing though and you can’t stop me.”  
greg nodded his, thankful he even got him to leave in the first place. 

——— 

when jules woke up the next morning the first thing she noticed was the searing pain in her side. she groaned and moved her hand up to press against her bandages.  
“hey, hey, it’s okay. does it hurt?”  
she turned her head to see greg sitting beside her and she mustered up a small smile. “nothing i can’t handle.”  
greg let out a light laugh and squeezed her hand.  
“i’m gonna go get us some food okay? your phone’s on that table there if you need it. i’ll let the team know you’re awake.” 

jules nodded her head, watching him leave before letting out a deep breath. she found the remote for the bed, leaning the back of it up and reaching for her phone. she scrolled through her contacts looking for sam’s name, her finger hovering over the call button once she found it. she couldn’t deny the disappointment she felt when she woke up and he wasn’t there beside her but she forced herself to shove it down, believing that he had a perfectly good reason. 

she put her phone back on the table beside her when she heard a light knock on the door. she couldn’t help the smile that took over her face or the way her heart started racing when she show sam’s messy blonde hair peeking in the door. when he saw she was awake he opened the door further and rushed in. before either of them could say anything, their lips were pressed together. jules hand gripped the back of his head, pulling him closer to her. as their lips moved in sync, sam blindly reached out, setting his present for her down on the table beside her bed so he could take her face in both of his hands. when they pulled apart he smiled down at her, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and rubbing his thumb softly against her cheek.  
“hey, pretty girl.” he whispered, a tear rolling down his cheek. 

jules let out a short laugh and rubbed her thumb over his cheek to wipe the tear off. “hi baby.” she whispered back and he leaned his head against her hand.  
sam stood up, clearing his throat and grabbing the plant off the table beside him.  
“a while ago you said that you didn’t like how cold and impersonal hospitals felt. so i got you a plant, spruce the place up a bit, you know?” 

jules smiled softly and reached out to take a leaf between her fingers. “a fern?”  
“mhm. low maintenance, nice and full, and it’ll stay alive longer than flowers.”  
“i’ve never understood flowers at hospitals. like ‘hey, thanks, that’s really pretty. now you get to leave and i get to sit and watch them die.’”  
“it’s the gesture, the thought behind it.”  
“it’s a short term thought.”  
sam laughed and bent down to kiss her forehead. “and that’s exactly why i got you a fern. i’m thinking long term.”  
jules heart soared upon hearing the words. she knew the deeper meaning, it wasn’t just about the plant, he was thinking about long term with her.  
“hey sam?”  
sam turned around from where he previously stood putting the plant in the windowsill.  
“mhm?”  
“i love you too.” jules whispered, letting him know she had heard his words from the night before. 

a smile overtook his face and he walked slowly towards her. “yeah?”  
he bent down, his lips brushing hers and her breath fanned across his lips when she whispered a light “definitely” before leaning up and connecting their lips once again.  
they both pulled back quickly when they heard someone clearing their throat and they looked up to see greg standing in the door way. 

jules cleared her own throat and pressed her lips together, not sure what to say or do.  
“boss-“ sam started but was cut off by greg raising his hand to signal for him to stop talking. he walked further into the room, closing the door behind him and setting the food down on a table.  
“the way you acted last night sam, i knew. i knew there was something going on between you two, and even before then i was questioning it. i guess i wanted to tell myself that i was wrong, that i was reading too much into it, but here you are.” he motioned to the two of them and took a step back, placing his hands on his hips and rolling his eyes in frustration.  
“do you understand how much trouble you two can get in? how much trouble i can get in if anyone finds out? there’s a reason people on the same team aren’t allowed to be together and-“  
sam threw his hands up in frustration, cutting greg off, “have you seen our performance slip? has there been one moment-“ 

“it only takes one moment! there’s a priority of life code for a reason!”  
“boss, we know. we put the lives of the public ahead of our own, ahead of each other’s. we’ve been on the same team for over a year and we’ve never broken that code. that’s not going to change”.  
“how long?” greg sighed.  
“boss...” jules trailed off, not wanting to answer.  
“how long?” greg repeated himself and sam sighed before answering. “a couple months.”  
greg scoffed and echoed sam’s words back to him in disbelief as he should his head. “if this got out, if they found out i knew and didn’t say anything we could all be fired!”  
“we know boss. it’s not like we wanted this to happen but we’re professionals. we wouldn’t let this affect our jobs.” 

“it already has sam! can’t you see that? yesterday, you hesitated, you wanted to get in that ambulance with jules. you let that get inside your heard and then you took down the suspect without a second of hesitation.”  
“it was the right call and you know that!”  
“isn’t that a good thing boss? that he didn’t hesitate?” jules questioned at the same time, not understand why that was a problem since they were trained to never hesitate.  
“that doesn’t matter when the driving force behind you taking that shot wasn’t because the suspect was dangerous, it wasn’t because he had been shooting at us, it wasn’t because he had ed at gun point. you can sit here and act like it was, but at the end of the day sam, you and i both know it was because he shot jules.”  
jules felt a tear roll down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away, reaching out to squeeze sam’s hand. greg’s eyes immediately shifted to their hands and he took a moment to think over their situation. it was dangerous, they had a priority of life code and a strict ‘no dating within the team’ rule for a reason. but then he thought about the fact that sam and jules had already been together for months and it hadn’t affected their job yet. in the end, the team was family and he strongly believe that you never turn your back on family. he decided then that he would protect them, protect his team, his family. 

“i’m not going to say anything to the inspector on the condition that you promise me this won’t impact your performance. i’m serious, one slip up and you’re both off the team.”  
jules and sam both eagerly nodded their heads and jules reached out her arms, motioning for him to come hug her. he easily complied, rubbing her back and kissing the side of her head.  
“i’m sorry boss.” she whispered in his ear.  
“i know jules. i just want you to be happy.” jules squeezed him tighter before letting him go.  
“we’re not gonna let you down.”  
greg nodded his head, reaching out and squeezing sam’s shoulder, “i have faith.”


End file.
